Poll workers, the ‘lifeblood’ of elections, hard at work during Lincoln General Election

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Polls are open for the Lincoln City General Election, and the people running the polls, are what the Election Commission calls, the lifeblood of the elections.

Marthaellen Florence, a poll inspector at Precinct 5-C-1, oversees the entire election in that precinct. She makes sure everybody knows what their job is and that every question a voter might have has an answer.

“I saw the little card that said, poll worker, and I thought, Oh, this might be interesting. So that’s what I do. And then I’ve been doing it for 20-plus years now,” Florence said.

Election Day can be long for poll workers. For the Lincoln General Election, they began unloading voting booths and machines at 7 a.m. to be ready for voters at 8 a.m., and they will remain open until 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

“General is a lot better than the primaries. A lot of folks just kind of think, ‘Well, we’ll just see what happens on the primaries.’ They don’t come out for the general but I think this particular one is going to be really, really, really busy,” Florence said.

Long-time volunteers like Florence are a wealth of knowledge for the Lancaster County Election Commissioner’s Office.

“Without poll workers, our democracy, democracy would be put in a difficult spot,” Todd Wiltgen, the Lancaster County Election Commissioner, said.

There are more than 900 people volunteering at the polls today and they are all paid for their work. “If you believe in your community, like you believe in Lincoln, Lancaster County, and Nebraska,” Florence said. “If you want to be a servant leader and give back to your community, that’s the best way to do it, and poll working is cool.”

There is a push to get younger people involved with becoming a poll worker but they must meet the following criteria.

Qualifications:

• Must be a registered voter in Lancaster County
• Must be able to read and write English
• Must attend poll worker training
• Must have good eyesight and hearing
• Cannot be a candidate appearing on the ballot

Hours:

Poll workers are required to be at their polling site from 7 a.m. to approximately 8:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Compensation:

Varies, starting at minimum wage

How to become a Poll Worker:

Complete the form online at Lancaster.ne.gov/election.

Poll Worker duties include:

• Setting up the polling site prior to opening of polls
• Checking in voters and issuing the proper ballots
• Closing the polling site after the polls close

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